Porgy and Bess

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Work data
Original title: Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess at the Harlem Theater New York 2009

Porgy and Bess at the Harlem Theater New York 2009

Shape: Opera in three acts
Original language: English (AE)
Music: George Gershwin
Libretto : DuBose Heyward ; some lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Literary source: Heywards novel Porgy and its stage version by Dorothy and DuBose Heyward
Premiere: October 10, 1935
Place of premiere: Alvin Theater, New York City
Playing time: approx. 2 ½ hours
Place and time of the action: Catfish Row, Charleston, about 1870
people
  • Porgy, a crippled "negro" ( bass baritone )
  • Bess, a young "negress" ( soprano )
  • Sporting Life, drug dealer and smuggler ( tenor )
  • Crown, a well-paid, brutal "negro" ( baritone )
  • Jake, Fischer (baritone)
  • Clara, his wife (soprano)
  • Robbins, a young fisherman (tenor)
  • Serena, his wife (soprano)
  • Peter, an old "negro", honey seller (tenor)
  • Maria, his wife ( old )
  • Jim (baritone)
  • Mingo (tenor)
  • Lily ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Annie (mezzo-soprano)
  • Scipio, "Negro boy" ( speaking role )
  • Strawberry seller (mezzo-soprano)
  • Crab seller (tenor)
  • Mr. Archdale, "white lawyer" (speaking role)
  • Simon Frazier, "Negeradvokat" (baritone)
  • Undertaker (baritone)
  • Coroner, Detective and Police Officer (3 speaking roles)
  • Residents of Catfish Row, fishermen, children, dock workers ( choir , ballet)

Porgy and Bess is an opera in three acts by George Gershwin based on a libretto by DuBose Heyward . The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward and Gershwin's brother Ira . The opera depicts the life of African Americans in the black settlement of Catfish Row in Charleston around 1870.

action

first act

In Catfish Row, a residential street for blacks, beggars and criminals, residents dance to the piano on summer evenings. Clara sings the lullaby Summertime for her child. The handicapped Porgy appears on his little cart. Porgy asks about the easy-going Bess. This appears with the gigantic, violent crown. The men sit down to play dice for money. An argument ensues and Crown stabs Robbins, Catfish Row resident, and runs away. Before the police appear, Porgy offers the now lonely Bess help and shelter.

Second act

Later: The fishermen are planning a trip and a picnic on Kittiwah Island despite the stormy weather. Porgy has no financial worries, he is happily in a relationship with Bess. Sporting Life tries to persuade Bess to go with him to New York, where supposedly a better life awaits, but Bess refuses - she wants to stay with Porgy. She and Maria set off for the fishermen's picnic. On the island, Bess meets Crown, who is hiding there, and falls for him again. She disappears with him into the forest. Bess does not return from the picnic until two days later and admits to Porgy that she cannot resist Crown. During a hurricane , Crown shows up trying to get Bess.

Third act

Crown sneaks to Porgy's apartment that night to kidnap Bess. Porgy stabs him from the back. Serena is accused of murder by the police, but she protests her innocence. Porgy refuses to identify the body and is held for a week for violating the law. Thereupon Bess falls back on the drug and follows Sporting Life to New York. When he returns, Porgy can no longer find Bess and sets out to look for her in New York.

Work history

Emergence

The opera was written for the Theater Guild in 1933–1935, although Gershwin was fascinated by DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy (1925) as early as 1926 . His wife Dorothy Heyward created a stage version for Broadway, which was successfully performed in 1927. Hayward revised this version for the opera. He cut it by almost half and added more lyrics. Some of them come from Ira Gershwin , the composer's brother. George Gershwin moved to Folly Island near Charleston during the summer of 1934 to study the life of the Gullah tribe , whose dialect is used in the libretto.

reception

After the enthusiastically received preview at the Colonial Theater in Boston on September 30, 1935, the opera with Todd Duncan and Anne Wiggins Brown in the title roles had its Broadway premiere on October 10 at the Alvin Theater in New York . Since there were only a few trained colored singers at the time, theater and nightclub actors were also used. The role of Sporting Live was played by a vaudeville actor named John Bubbles, who could not read music at all. The production directed by Rouben Mamoulian was only moderately successful. Critics complained that it was a hybrid of opera and musical. After 124 performances, the work was sold at a loss. However, individual music numbers quickly became so popular that Gershwin put them together in a suite in 1936 to make the opera better known. This attempt was initially unsuccessful. The work only became a global success after Gershwin's death.

In 1938 the opera was performed in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Mamoulian also staged this production. Duncan and Brown sang the title roles again.

It was not until a production in Maplewood (New Jersey) in 1941 that the opera achieved a breakthrough. The composer Virgil Thomson described it as a “beautiful piece of music and deeply moving work of musical theater” after he had previously rejected it as “false folklore and half-hearted opera”. From January 22, 1942 she came to New York for the second time, where she was given for eight months at the Majestic Theater.

The European premiere took place in Copenhagen in 1943 with Danish singers. Despite the fierce resistance of the National Socialist occupation forces and Gestapo actions against the "Jewish Negro opera with screams in the jungle", Porgy and Bess could be played a total of 22 times in front of a full house until it was forcibly removed. After the end of the war she was accepted again immediately. It has now also been played in Sweden (Gothenburg 1948, Stockholm 1949, Malmö 1952). The Russian premiere in concert on April 18, 1945 in Moscow was followed by a staged version just a few weeks later due to its great success.

The Swiss premiere took place during the June Festival Weeks 1945 in Zurich. The German version of the opera (translation: Ralph Benatzky ) entered the repertoire of the Zurich City Theater in autumn 1950 .

1952-1955 followed a world tour of the Everyman Opera Company with Leontyne Price and William Warfield in the title roles and Cab Calloway as Sporting Life. They first performed the work in Dallas and several other American cities and then came to Europe - Vienna and many other cities. A week at La Scala in Milan in 1955 was particularly successful .

The film adaptation from 1959 played Dorothy Dandridge (sung by Adele Addison ), Sidney Poitier (sung by Robert McFerrin, the father of Bobby McFerrin ) and Sammy Davis Jr. was conducted by André Previn .

For the German premiere in 1970 at the Komische Oper Berlin created Horst Seeger and Götz Friedrich a new translation. This production received a lot of attention. Friedrich not only staged the work here, but also in 1988 in the Berlin Theater des Westens and in 1997 on the lake stage of the Bregenz Festival - the latter two in the original language.

The Harlem Opera ensemble played the opera in Barcelona in 1982. Porgy and Bess achieved one of their greatest successes in 1983 in a production at Radio City Music Hall New York, which was also played in Florence in 1984. It was shown for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera in 1985 (Porgy: Simon Estes , Bess: Grace Bumbry , Serena: Florence Quivar; staging: Nathaniel Merrill, conductor: James Levine ), and in 1986 in Glyndebourne (Porgy: Willard White , Bess: Gregg Baker , Serena: Cynthia Haymon; staging: Trevor Nunn , conductor: Simon Rattle ).

music

The New York Times described the piece as "American Folk Opera", which is intended to express that Gershwin has introduced many elements of American music (but without using original music by the Afro-American residents). According to Gershwin's will, the piece may only be performed by blacks (exception: concert performance ).

George Gershwin attached particular importance to having composed an opera , not a musical , with Porgy and Bess , and in fact the piece is very close to the operas of verismo both through the use of the well- composed large form and the realistic milieu drawing . Nevertheless, due to the use of the popular spiritual , blues and jazz elements , the piece is stylistically on the verge of a musical.

Many melodies from Porgy and Bess such as I Loves You, Porgy , I Got Plenty o 'Nuttin' or Summertime have become jazz standards . The latter is one of the most popular and most frequently played songs and has been recorded by countless musicians. Sportin 'Lifes Solo It Ain't Necessarily So was a hit in 1984 by the version of the pop band Bronski Beat .

Instrumentation

The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:

Discography

Total recordings

Edits

literature

Web links

Commons : Porgy and Bess  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Monika Schwarz: Porgy and Bess. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 2: Works. Donizetti - Henze. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-492-02412-2 , pp. 360-364.
  2. ↑ Harenberg opera guide. 4th edition. Meyers Lexikonverlag, 2003, ISBN 3-411-76107-5 , pp. 263-265.